1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to acetonitrile purification via an adsorption-based process. More particularly, this invention relates to a process for acetonitrile purification involving pretreating the acetonitrile to selectively convert unsaturated nitriles contained in the acetonitrile into products that can be preferentially eliminated. The pretreatment is followed by adsorption to remove the resulting products and other organic impurities present in the acetonitrile.
The acetonitrile purification process of the present invention can be used to up-grade acetonitrile presently produced by chemical plants to a higher purity material of significantly greater value. Specifically, removal of UV-absorbing organic impurities from acetonitrile results in a product with unusually high transparency in the UV and removal of water makes acetonitrile useful in certain commercial applications.